Saturday, October 31, 2009

This was shown right before the band took the stage for set II. After teasing phans for the past month the last album standing out of the 99 possibles is: The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street. Phish is joined by Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings who are providing the horns. Exile on Main Street was the Stones 10th album and draws heavily on the blues. Expect the crowd to go wild when they launch into Loving Cup.

Most of our crew will be at Festival 8. We will do our best to provide Twitter updates through our main feed @CoventryMusic and through our individual feeds. In addition, we'll be posting plenty of random goodness here at Coventry Music Blog throughout the festival depending upon the reliability and consistency of the internets in Indio.

If you recently started up a Twitter account, or don't follow us, here's who we are in the Twitterverse...

Monday, October 26, 2009

Our buddy @Unolker is organizing a tweet-up on Saturday afternoon at Festival 8. Ever wanted to see what happens when a bunch of music nerds get together? Want to see our cool Halloween costumes? Want to get a presciption from Dr. Pauly? Come on and say hi. Looks like right now we are going to meet in the beer garden picnic area. Follow @coventrymusic and @unolker or click the tweetvite for more details.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Much like Lee Dorsey, everything our good friend racecar does is funky.. Check out her old school funk and soul mix that has some classic and rare tracks - a great mix for the few hour wait you'll face in the Phish 8 traffic line..download link

I keep having this recurring argument with Dr. Pauly that this Coventry joint needs some more jazz. He thinks that's great, but insists that most of y'all wander over this way because you're fans of live music.

So I'll compromise.

How about two discs of live jazz to start out your week? Disc One features some pretty straightforward accessible stuff, while Disc Two has some tracks that are just another step or two outside the mainstream. Links below.

The review from AllMusic.com says this is arguably the best live version ever captured of this iconic Coltrane classic. This whole disc is actually pretty damned good overall too, as you've got the novelty of Haynes sitting in for Elvin Jones, and a pretty solid reading of a favorite ballad of mine, "I Want To Talk About You."

This set is a Dr. Pauly favorite, and for good reason. Rollins alone with bass and drums was a risky venture back in the late 50s, but he managed to create some pretty spectacular music without a piano involved.

**iTunes Alert** - There's a $19.99 Sonny Rollins "five disc" set on iTunes from Blue Note Records called The Complete Blue Note Recordings that collects the two discs of these trio sessions, plus the albums known as Vol. 1 & 2, and a pretty nice set from an album called Newk's Time.Vol. 2 in particular has some cuts with Thelonious Monk that are pretty fucking worthwhile, if you're so inclined.

Ahmad Jamal is one of a short list of highly influential jazz artists who always sat on the outside looking in in terms of popularity. Jamal influenced Miles Davis a great deal, mostly through his thoughtful use of space and silence in his solos. This album never made it to CD (I don't think), and, like much of Jamal's recorded work, remains out of print.

A fun, if not groundbreaking, set from true icons of bebop, touring in Canada as their musical style was circling the drain. Parker sounds good here, despite playing a borrowed plastic (!) alto. I forget if he pawned his personal horn to buy heroin in this case, but let's just say that wouldn't have been the first time.

My favorite story about this set is that the concert was that Miles came in to the dressing room for his band just prior to taking the stage and told them they were going to give up that night's paychecks to charity, as the show was thrown by the NAACP to benefit voter registration in the deep south. None of the guys in the band were stars at the time, and between their nerves performing at New York's Philharmonic Hall and their anger at playing for free without their consent, they pushed the ever loving hell out of Miles that night. Great show, top to bottom. Probably my favorite live set from my jazz collection.

The three discs that make up the Five Spot sets this band played are a testament to the musical chemistry between Dolphy and trumpeter Booker Little, who would pass away three months after this set. Little was just getting his personal sound into shape, and could have emerged with another classic recording or three under his belt as one of the superstars of the free jazz movement, but he was cut down by complications from uremia at age 23. Regarding Dolphy, some people can't stand the squawking chaotic bass clarinet soloing he's famous for, but I think it's brilliant and unique. To each, their own.

I thought this might be a fun additon for comparison's sake to the 1964 version on Disc One. The Plugged Nickel sets found Miles helming his second great quintet (the first was the late 50s group with Coltrane), and it's amazing how much these young musicians have grown behind him. Herbie's playing sounds a little darker, more impressionistic. Williams' drumming is more assertive, and replacing Coleman with Shorter traded muscle for angularity. The style becomes more adventurous and elastic, pushing in and out of the rhythmic structure and unmooring the traditional blues of "Walkin'" and drifting into freer territory.

I think I'm going to have something more to say about this concert at some point soon, but I posted about this song on MetaFilter awhile ago, and that's as good a place as any to start. The last five minutes of the song are, for my money, the most exciting five minutes of music I've ever heard. Dolphy and Ervin trade fours, then twos, with Dolphy providing the fractured mirror image of Ervin, dismantling his blues licks and building them into something altogether different. Oh, and if this whole song doesn't get you off your ass, you've got no soul.

Let me just state for the record that this is a pretty difficult era of Miles' output to approach. It's kinda space-funk-jazz that stabs at you with malicious intent, and isn't at all easy listening. That being said, if you dig this, there's a TON of material +/- five years from this recording that are going to appeal to you. Let me know. I'm guessing that out of any of these cuts, this one is going to be the one that meets the skip button more often than not.

(I'm taking the liberty of refreshing this classic post from April of 08)

Hey y'all, BG from Gambling Blues here. Dr. Pauly and I were talking music the other day, and, as usual, I started to get evangelical about my love of jazz.

See, all you jamband lovers who dig it when Trey plinks around on that guitar of his for twenty solid minutes know where improvisational American music was born, right? Louis Armstrong begat Duke Ellington, who gave rise to Charlie Parker, with Miles Davis, John McLaughlin and those guys from Galactic as your logical heirs from there.

So give my guys from the 50s and 60s some love, and let me introduce you to a few of my favorite performances, conveniently located in a zip file on Rapidshare, and burnable to a single CD for your listening enjoyment.

You know the old saying, "Two wrongs don't make a right?" Thelonious Monk, starting at 6:45 of the track, sets out to prove that thesis incorrect. Monk is famous for his ability to stretch and twist rhythm and melody, and this solo is all about playing with the empty spaces around his untraditional phrases to allow you, the listener, to fill in the blanks and resolve them in your own head.

The blues, as a structure, is to make a statement, repeat that statement, then resolve it. AAB structure. Something like:

I got my mojo workin', just don't work on youI got my mojo workin', just don't work on youI wanna love you so bad, don't know what to do

This song is very clearly a blues structure. Monk will make his A statement, muddy the waters with a seemingly wrong chord and misplaced rhythmic beat in the repeat, and then play something in his B statement resolution that, while wrong "on paper," makes enough sense to your ear from the context of the "AA" lead that it seems to work out in your head.

I'm not very well versed in music (can't read it, am no scholar), but once I read a quote about this solo that essentially said, "Monk expects the notes to resolve themselves in the empty space," it made perfect sense to me.

My friend Gracie doesn't like Eric Dolphy. She thinks he sounds like a shrieking goose.

Well, to be fair, he is playing the bass clarinet.

This version of this song is likely my favorite jazz cut of all time. Dolphy, still a couple albums away from stepping more fully into "free jazz" (music without melodic underpinnings), seems to have an instinct through his bass clarinet to push at the outer edges of the chords in the melody without fully breaking any of the rules. Regardless of all this pseudo-intellectual crap about tonality, this shit just fucking swings. My favorite part is the restatement of the theme after all parties have soloed. Dolphy makes this yelping noise with his horn as he leaps into the final verse that just gets me every time.

It was relatively simple in the 60s to get lost in the tenor sax shuffle. Coltrane was killing it, Sonny Rollins was an established star, and Blue Note Records seemed to be able to land a new Hank Mobley, Johnny Griffin or Stanley Turrentine LP on the shelves with frightening regularity.

Jimmy Heath is, in my opinion, a founding member of the 1960s All-Underrated Team. Jimmy came from a jazz family (his brother Percy is on the Miles Davis track above, and his brother Al sits in on this one), and really made his mark as a composer more than soloist. This track in particular is likely his best known contribution to the standard songbook, and it burns. Kenny Burrell has a pretty solid solo on the guitar to lead off, with Jimmy following with a serpentine dance around the melody.

Between Dolphy, Heath and Mal Waldron below, I feel like I should be going door-to-door to casual jazz fans, trading them their Coltrane Greatest Hits albums straight across for something just as interesting from a lesser-known artist. It's a shame that guys like these end up largely forgotten, except by collectors willing to dig through the era carefully enough to unearth a gem. Forty years later, all this stuff still sounds fresh to me.

There are guys who play a lot of notes, and there are guys who thoughtfully play the right notes. Rollins is in the latter camp. Look, I like Coltrane as much as the next guy, but listening to the guy blister through "Chasin' the Trane" for eighteen minutes gets tiring. Rollins is a guy who tells a linear story, almost has a conversation through his horn, and it's largely absent the byzantine hyperkineticism that marks Coltrane's style.

"Blue 7" was really Rollins' first great step forward as an individual voice. It's a thoughtful, intelligent and maybe even witty solo, that is as much planting the flag on his own territory as it is a reaction against the prevailing Charlie Parker and bebop freneticism of the day. Max Roach and Doug Watkins give Rollins all the room he needs, and he proves you can stretch out without filling every available empty moment with a sixteenth note. This whole album can be had for cheap, and comes highly recommended.

Speaking of high recommendations, this is a jam band blog, and this is the standout track from one of the great live jam records of the jazz era. Some people even list it in the top three all-time.

I'm not one to argue.

Wes Montgomery had a fairly unfortunate career arc, mainly because someone showed him a series of big fat checks to play elevator music. It's a shame, too, as his limited output prior to selling out really highlights the guy's talent. Smokin' is a true jam date, with the greatest working rhythm section of the mid-60s letting Wes sit in for these sessions. This track in particular has, in jazz guitarist Pat Metheny's eyes, the greatest jazz solo ever played.

Booker Ervin was rooted in the blues, Ron Carter a Philharmonic-schooled classicist, and Eric Dolphy a dissident of dissonance. With Waldron and Persip providing a thin pencil sketch framework around which to play, it's really interesting to hear these three styles come together, especially through headphones. In both channels, you get Carter's plaintive bowed cello work, with Ervin anchoring to tradition in your right ear, Dolphy pushing against tonality in your left. It's really Carter's show though. No fireball solos in this cut, just four minutes of mood music that ends far too soon. Carter wouldn't join Miles Davis' second great quintet until 1964, but this cut foreshadows some of that group's greatest work - especially works like "Mood," "Orbits," and the classic deconstruction of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints."

Ow! The Lee Morgan! It buuuurrrrnnnnsss! The kid was 20 years old when he laid down this swaggering solo. How good were you at anything but bong tokes and inventing reasons to skip Econ lectures at age 20?

This was the first album Miles recorded post-Coltrane, and the first with his new-and-soon-to-be-ex-tenor sax player Hank Mobley. Now, I like Hank. I like Hank a lot, actually. He's a bluesy player, full tone, swings hard. But listen to the difference between Hank's solo, then Coltrane's. Thom Jurek at the All Music Guide says, "Mobley plays a strictly journeyman solo, and then Coltrane blows the pack away with a solo so deep inside the harmony it sounds like it's coming from somewhere else."

That's about right. It's graduation day for Coltrane, who had learned all he could from Miles. Miles, Coltrane and Mobley went off in different directions after this album, each having a great deal of success as leaders on their own, but for this one song on this one album, Coltrane is clearly a man among boys.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

It seems as though that the locals are calling Indio "Little Vermont" as Phish's crew migrated out West to start building up the site. The boys are back East working on the Halloween album and other ditties. I wonder if the Boss is practicing Born to Run with them?

Anyway, check out the update because they are telling you about some of the cool shit like donuts, Bloody Mary Bar (where I'll get scores of the World Series games). There will be 50 kinds of beer sold at the infamous Coachella beer garden. The House of Live Phish returns and Kuroda lights palm trees. And the Bunny aka Phish festy radio, is also back. When you get close to Indio tune into 95.9 FM.

I love antagonyms. It's often hilarious and fascinating when words take on multiple meanings, as in brief, tossing salad or a Bill Clinton. It's evident language speakers will continue to engage in a never ending semantic war on proper word usage. The battle is sometimes serious. More than just lame arguments about trivial meaning, the ubiquitous n-word, f-word, and p-word battles prove definitions can be about important issues of social identity, not just grammar.

The word "phish" of course, is not immune. In terms of the band, the present participle battle is clearly lost. Phishing = identity theft, or at least an attempt of an illegal ID land grab. The band's formation predates the first use of the the term "phishing", used to describe the act of electronic data fraud. An old school AOL usenet newsgroup is credited (1,2,3,4) with the first use of "Phishing" back in 1996.

On October 7, 2009 the FBI boasted of the success of operation "Phish Phry", the largest, most successful cyber-crime sting to date. Netting about 100 suspects, it was a joint effort involving US and Egyptian law enforcement. Looks like most suspects will be charged w/conspiracy to commit bank/wire fraud, thus "phishing" is not an official crime.

The recent press release represents the first time "phish" has been officially used in a title of a FBI brief (documents on the DL non-withstanding). Mark it down, phish trivia nerds. And no, conspiracy theory nerds, I do not think this is an elaborate attempt to tarnish the phish name; that happens on it's own I think.

The language war will undoubtedly continue whether people discuss the etymology of "phish" or not. I want the FBI to know that I notice their use of "phish" and this aggression will not stand. Take your ID theft crime and call it what it really is: fraud, not phish.

Friday, October 16, 2009

I had a unabashed schoolgirl crush on Bob from the time I was 17 and a freshman at the University of Vermont during the fall of 1978. It was in one of the study lounges of UVM's Jeanne Mance Hall where I was first introduced to the Grateful Dead/Little Feat/New Riders of the Purple Sage and a host or other bands. A bunch of the guys converted their lounge into a bar/music den and nearly every night one of the dudes would collect a buck for a keg, which would then be purchased at the Beverage Mart in Winooski. Later that night we'd all convene to drink beer and listen to our favorite bands. Since it was a largely Freshman dorm with only outcasts from the upper classes in residence I don't think any of us had actually seen the Grateful Dead live and in concert.

When Bob released his second solo album(see picture below) in 1978, It was one of my first purchases after the Grateful Dead's Blues for Allah and Shakedown Street. This album cover graced my wall along with a poster of the Grateful Dead & New Riders in ponchos shot at a barn.Although, my school girl crush faded away when Bob up and got married in the 1990's. I've remained a big fan of his. I've seen Bob play as: Weir/Wasserman, Ratdog, The Other One's and The Dead and of course the Grateful Dead. Some of my favorite Bobby tunes include: Cassidy, Sugar Magnolia, Throwin' Stones, Looks Like Rain, Feel Like a Stranger, Victim or the Crime and Two Djinn. California Rob and I were in attendance when Bob played one of the first live versions of Victim or the Crime at the Pasadena Civic Center on 4/16/1988 as part of a Seva Benefit Foundation Concert.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

If you had popped your head in to the Crowbar this past Tuesday night, you would have never known that the headlining band Neon Indian, was — as the inebriated and prancing band manager stated — “on top of the music world.” Alan Palermo’s latest project had just officially released their debut, Psychic Chasms, and scored a lofty 8.6 and “Best New Music” from the wordy, indie rock staple Pitchfork. I asked Palermo if he smiled or rolled his eyes at the recent good press. He laughed and humbly replied that he thought it was “great news.” Despite his soft spoken, unpretentious manner, Palermo is definitely the electro-rock star the indie press lauds him as. His first project, the short-lived Ghosthustler, stirred buzz with its “Parking Lot Nights” video. Vega, another ongoing Palermo project, has garnered similar praise. No more than 100 or so patrons were in attendance along with another dozen who raged the dance floor during the short, but tight set. Seeing Neon Indian made me nostalgic for a time I wasn’t even around for — it’s like if Billy Ocean took some good drugs and covered Hall and Oates songs for an hour. One thing missing was any visuals. This would have been a problem, but opener SUNBEARS! (pictured) brought enough lights, videos and confetti to cover everyone.

Jacksonville’s SUNBEARS! — touted as one of the better Florida indie bands — lived up to much of the hype with great arrangements, energy and enough Flaming Lips shtick to fill up Wayne Coyne’s bubble. While the two-some + computer make good music and put on a real fun show, by the end of their set, I’d had all I could handle of singer Jonathan Berlin’s Ben Gibbard-ish delivery and junior high diary lyrics.

Usually, I don’t make it to a show early enough, or am intrigued enough to catch the first act on a three-band bill, but Tampa-based MC, BC the Black Child, blew the minds of those who were quick enough to decipher his lyrics. BC rhymes in a furious pace, tight on the beat, and favors positive and conscious poetry over guns, money and ass. Check out his featured track on the rock the dub blog – “Ode to Gil Scott Heron” featuring Saul Williams.

For those who don’t know, an average Tuesday night at the Crowbar is a good time. Soft Rock Renegades spin indie hits and other tasty variousness in the open air patio and $5 liters of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and Abita Purple Haze can be had by those who enjoy tasty brews. For this week’s edition, the guys at THX management added a darn good show to the mix.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

"SIRIUS XM’s Jam_On channel and the members of Phish have worked together on the four-part series “Phish: Festivalography.” The special will air on Jam_On channel, SIRIUS channel 17 and XM channel 56, beginning Thursday, October 15 at 9:00 PM EST.

According to a release on the project, Phish: Festivalography will explore Phish’s history as pioneers of music festival culture, beginning with their first festival in 1996 in Plattsburgh, New York, and continuing through their eighth festival, Festival 8, which will include a special Halloween set wherein the band will play a classic album by another band.” Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon and Page McConnell will each offer behind-the-scenes stories, anecdotes and memorable moments from past festivals, as well as released and unreleased musical performances.

The first segment of the series will focus on 1996’s The Clifford Ball and 1997’s The Great Went.” The band will also discuss the 1998’s Lemonwheel, 1999’s Camp Oswego and Big Cypress and 2003’s IT festivals during the special. Additionally, Anastasio, Fishman, Gordon and McConnell will also talk about 2004’s swan song Coventry." - www.jambands.com

Sunday, October 11, 2009

My in-law's live on 600+ acres of rolling hills in far north Texas, just a few miles south of the Red River. You'll come across all kinds of critters up there, both fenced in and in the wild: armadillos, deer, yaks, coyotes and every kind of cow imaginable. But nothing has been as strange as coming across this triumvirate of wasps entangled in some sort of buzzing mess. The wasps had started their battle in a flower pot 8 feet off the ground, only to tumble to the wooden deck in the struggle. May be in unison they could have flown around, but with only one free pair of wings they were going no where. A 4th wasp hovered around them for much of the time, rooting one of them on or may be looking to get on top. But there was no room. No getting in where you fit in.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Instead of checking phish.com every day, I've been keeping up with the Festival 8 updates over at Jamtopia. This week, in addition to killing off more albums, Phish has photoshopped a few album covers (one pictured above). Check out the coverage here.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

STS9 and 1320 RECORDS are pleased to announce the pending release of STS9’s new studio album “AD EXPLORATA” later this fall. Beginning THIS TUESDAY (10/6) STS9’s first single, “ATLAS”, from the forthcoming “Ad Explorata” will be available via 1320Records, STS9.com, iTunes and in both FREE streaming form and available for purchase. “Atlas” will also kick off the newest 1320 Records PodCast which features a who’s who of 1320 Records current roster. Dig into a hour of free 1320 madness that includes tracks from Flying Skulls, Nalepa, Eskmo, Fuzz, Calmer, Virtual Boy and St Andrew!

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Ten years ago today. the circus wandered through Normal, IL This was one of the few shows I skipped during that monster of a fall tour and I was bummed out. Ghost second set opener? Blew the roof off the building according to a friend of mine who was there. Other highlights? Funky Bitch and Jesus Left Chicago in the first set with Makisupa and Sand in the second set.

Phish 10/04/99 Redbird Arena, Normal, IL

Set I: Uncle Pen, Funky Bitch, Vultures, Runaway Jim, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Limb By Limb, Wilson, Down With Disease

Saturday, October 03, 2009

And an Audience Recording...Incomplete set but if you are curious what it sounds like it is worth a listen:1. atoms for peace2. and it rained all night3. harrowdown hill4. cymbal rush5. lotus flower6. skirting on the surface7. paperbag writer8. judge jury executioner9. hallow earth10. feeling pulled apart by horses http://www.sendspace.com/file/wslcc7